Another set on the bench

[cdmarion]

I've got a Admiral Triple thrill chassis 301A-S that has developed a "snap, crackle, pop" in the sound and picture. The actual sound signal seems weak or has just been overwhelmed with noise. The picture is good with the exception of occasional flashes, snow and jumps that seem to be in sync with the noise from the speaker. Iv'e tested all the tubes, which test good, pulled all the video tubes one at a time and found that when I pull the first video IF the raster will stabilize but still have noise in the sound, I've pulled the HV tubes and still have the audio noise with no raster. Now....If i'm reading the schematic correctly this is a split sound receiver, the video and audio signals split out of the tuner, so my first thought, is that the trouble is in the front end, or could there be a problem in the LV circuit that could effect both sound and picture? I've cleaned the tuner barrel contacts with no change. Any thoughts or suggestions?


Thanks
Chris